


Caught in a Web

by Kereea



Series: 10 Days of Lawlu [6]
Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M, Scars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-11 21:39:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7071451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kereea/pseuds/Kereea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Doflamingo made sure to leave his mark...</p><p>10 Days of Lawlu Day 6: Loss/Change</p>
            </blockquote>





	Caught in a Web

 Law didn’t even realize it would be so bad.

 He’d assumed Doflamingo had been sneaking tiny sharp strings at his face—too small to do more than draw blood, none sinking more than a fraction of a millimeter into his skin for the barest of an instant—to distract him, to get blood in his eyes or cause a sting just enough to trip him up.

 And blood nearly getting into his eyes _had_ been an inconvenience, he’d ruined both sleeves of his coat, even before one had been cut away with his arm, just wiping at his face to try and keep his vision clear. And the cuts had been annoyingly stinging, shallow and exposed to the air. So Law’s assumption made sense.

 Robin and Cavendish had mostly cleaned the blood before Law had teleported down to the city to help Luffy, but some of the marginally deeper ones had kept leaking. That was when Law had noticed Doflamingo had gotten his chest, neck, and hands too—any skin that had been exposed.

 Given how Law’s powers were dependent on stamina, Law had wondered if it was meant to be a small drain on that, give him blood loss to add to the mix since many of the cuts were so shallow Law wouldn’t have thought to heal them, hell so shallow he’d only even noticed a fraction of them.

 He’d only gained something of an inkling of the real plan when Sengoku had shot him odd, concerned looks during their chat, followed by asking how he was recovering from the fight.

 Law had shrugged it off as an old man’s concern, some sentimentality due to their link through Cora-san.

 It wasn’t until he finally got his turn at the shower on the Barto Club’s ship—over a day after boarding, as Cyborg Franky had insisted on upgrading the pitiful bathroom before his crewmates or ally used it—that he found out.

 Because the bathroom was the first time he’d seen himself in a mirror in days.

 His face was covered in thin, crisscrossed scars, like a net.

 “Shit,” he muttered. The marks split his face like hairline fissures, pale cracks across tan skin. For a single panicked moment, he had flashbacks to Amber Lead, to white skin and painful coughing and weakness foreshadowing an oncoming death-

 No. No, they were just scars. Just a lot of damn scars. He lifted up his shirt—they were there too, standing out in bright slices against his tattoos. A few he hadn’t even noticed split the backs of his hands.

 And his neck, some wrapped around it like a noose of-

 Threads.

 Law staged back in shock.

That…that utter _bastard_. He actually found a fucking way to keep his strings around Law all the way from fucking _Impel Down_.

 He jumped as someone pounded on the door.

 “Hey Traffy! Zoro got covered in beer; can he shower first?”

 Shit, it was Luffy… “I…sure I’m not undressed yet…”

 He pulled the brim of his hat low over his face as the door banged open and Luffy “helpfully” shoved a reeking, mildly-embarrassed-looking Zoro towards the shower. Law then wondered why he did that—Luffy could see the scars just fine, hell, he’d probably known about them before Law!

 …Asshole, why hadn’t he said anything?

“Yeah, sorry, sure you were looking forward to showering. I know I am” Luffy said, folding his hands behind his head with a sigh as Law let the room. “I mean, getting your cuts wiped off is nice but I still got Dressrosa dirt all over.”

 “Yeah,” Law agreed. Franky had gone first, since he’d gotten very sweaty rebuilding the bathroom, which combined with natural smell of grease and oil and musk had not been pleasant for anyone else. Then Robin. Now it was Law’s turn, which had been stolen by the initially-going-last-due-to-not-caring Zoro, with Usopp and Luffy after Law.

 “Usopp’s already getting extra shampoo out of Barty,” Luffy said. “He got all this dirt and mud in his curls, he’s going to be rinsing for forever!”

 “Poor Nose-ya,” Law said. “How long will Moss-ya take?”

 “Eh, like five minutes. It’s Zoro,” Luffy said shrugging. “Is your arm feeling better? You’re not holding it as much as yesterday.”

 His arm. Right, the actual severe injury, not the one that mostly just hit his vanity. “Just some twinges. Should be back to normal soon.”

 “That’s good. At least you got to fight, poor Robin had to play support the whole time!” Luffy laughed. “She didn’t get to have any real fun!”

 “Too bad for her,” Law said. “I suppose her Haki’s not strong enough to have just snapped Doflamingo’s neck?”

 He assumed anyway, Nico Robin was ever-practical…

 “Nope. That would have been so awesome. Mingo could have been all gloaty and then-wham! Neck twist!” Luffy said, miming the motion in the air with a grin. “I’m training with her, we’ve _got_ to do that to at least one cocky jerk!”

 And people thought Straw Hat was all innocence. “Make sure I’m around when you do it.”

 “Where else would you be? Allies stick together!” Luffy said brightly

 Law hated the traitorous flutter in his chest at that. Damn Straw Hat for being so…so… _Luffy_.

 “Done!” Zoro announced, walking out with only his pants on and still wet. Law didn’t care. He wanted a shower and privacy _now_.

 “Great,” Law said. “Talk later, Straw Hat-ya.”

 “Aw, thought we were up to Luffy-ya, Traffy!” Luffy whined as he shut the door.

 Law ignored him as he stripped. Shit. The scars there formed a wide stripe of webbing across his chest, from where he’d been running around with an open coat.

 “You fucking asshole,” he snarled even though Doflamingo wasn’t even there. He’d known Law wouldn’t pay attention to some shallow cuts, wouldn’t heal them in time…

 He’d known Law would carry these scars.

 Law sighed. He could probably get rid of them, given some research. He’d never much cared about scars. But these…well, they were fairly extensive. And annoying. And looked like he was still caught in those _fucking strings_ -

 He took a deep breath. He need to say focused. He was finally getting a damn shower.

.o.o.o.

 Law shot up in bed, gasping as he clutched at his neck.

 “Wha…Traffy?” Luffy mumbled at his own sleep being disturbed. They’d ended up sharing a bed since Bartolomeo hadn’t remembered to give Law one.  “You alright?”

 “Just fine, Luffy-ya,” Law said tightly. There weren’t string around his neck. There weren’t.

 “C’mon go back to sleep,” Luffy said, pulling him back down, cuddling far more than strictly necessary. Law was glad it was too dark to see him blushing.

 Still it was…comforting. Luffy was stronger than Doflamingo. His strings couldn’t reach here.

.o.o.o.

 Zou confirmed his fears. His crew had been shocked at what had happened to him—bar Bepo, who had needed to check to make sure Law hadn’t just developed stripes as a result of aging. Minks considered that sort of question relevant. But it had made it clear, the scars were bad, he’d just been around lunatics who’d ignored them to be nice.

 And then there was rescuing the world’s most assholish redhead from Kaido. 

 “The fuck happened to you, anyway?” Kid asked as they sailed away fro Wano. He’d been making faces at Law since they’d dragged him out of his cell. Killer had audibly tsk’d his boss five times by now.

 “Doflamingo,” Law said flatly.

 “Yeesh, he did a number on you then,” Kid said. “Straw Hat save your ass?”

 “What’s it to you, freeloader?” Law growled. They hadn’t found anywhere to dump him and Killer yet but as soon as they did Law was teleporting them off himself.

 “Oh how the mighty have fallen, Warlord to _sidekick_ ,” Kid mocked.

 Law was a half second from cutting Kid’s head off—Killer’s annoyance be damned—when Luffy bounded up, “Hey, Kid, leave him alone.”

 “Chill, Straw Hat, I ain’t stealing your guy,” Kid muttered. “I know he’s spoken for.”

 “Got that right, shishishi,” Luffy said. “He’s mine so _nyeh_.”

 Law had no idea what was going on right now. He still wanted to decapitate Kid.

 “Aw, come on, like scarecrow’s my type,” Kid said idly. They seemed to be speaking the same language—the language of cocky idiots. “Don’t worry, Straw Hat, I don’t want your boyfriend.”

 What.

 “What?” Law asked.

 “I’m not going to come between you,” Kid said, rolling his eyes. “Besides, seriously, you are _not_ my type. You don’t even have an ass, man.”

 “Excuse me?” Law demanded. Luffy was his… _boyfriend_? Since when? Just because Luffy hugged him all the godamn time…and got pissed off at Doflamingo for flirting with him…and split a bed with him…and nuzzled him before leaving Zou…

 Shit maybe he _was_ dating Straw Hat. Well no one had told him!

 “There’s nothing wrong with Traffy’s butt. Jerk,” Luffy muttered.

 “Both of you shut up about my ass before I decide to relieve you of your own,” Law threatened, a Room beginning to swirl in his hand.

 Luffy and Kid eyed it with some trepidation before going back to their fight with Kid announcing he’d still be the Pirate King and Luffy teasing him with the fact that his alliance had saved Kid’s butt big time.

 Law sighed, “Oi, taking my boyfriend. Bicker over the throne later.”

 Luffy huffed but let Law tug him away. Kid had a comment halfway out of his mouth before Killer clamped a hand over it.

 “What the hell was that?” Law asked.

 “He was making fun of you. You didn’t like it,” Luffy said, shrugging. “So I asked him to stop.”

 “I…you never told me we were dating!” Law hissed.

 “You’re really smart though, I was sure you knew before me!” Luffy said, wide-eyed.

 Law gaped at him, “So you didn’t know…realized…and just assumed I knew before you?”

 “Yeah! Why else would you split a bed with me?” Luffy asked, cocking his head.

“I…because I thought I had an unrequired crush and wanted to be close, okay?”

 Luffy snickered. “Traffy’s weird. It’s okay, though, I still love you.”

 Law started in shock as Luffy went up on his tiptoes to kiss Law on the nose before rebounding down to his heels with a smile.

 “I...you…” Law said. “You don’t…mind?”

 At Luffy’s confused look Law waved at his face and neck. “This.”

 “…You?”

 “The scars you idiot,” Law muttered.

 Luffy kicked his shin. “Don’t name call your boyfriend. And no…they really bother you? More than the nightmares?”

 “They’re why the nightmares have been so bad,” Law said.

 “…If we see Mingo again, let’s shave his head,” Luffy said. “For messing with you.”

 Law smiled softly, “That is…certainly an idea.”

.o.o.o.

 “Made this!”

 Law looked at what was thrust into his hands by a very gleefully Luffy. “You made me a necklace?”

 “Well, Usopp and Franky helped with the charms. And Robin had to show me how to braid it. Twice,” Luffy admitted. “Try it on, please?”

 Law sighed, unzipping his hoodie just enough to get it on, frowning slightly because he knew the scars were visible over his T-shirt. The cord was in two parts, one that hung lower down and one that acted almost like a thickly braided choker with a charm of his Jolly Roger on it and the lower cord had tiny scalpels…

 Law frowned and pulled out Kikoku, unsheathing it by a few inches to use the reflective blade as a mirror.

 The necklace perfectly covered the noose of scars on his neck. Or, almost, but it was bright enough—braided from yellow and white and dark blue—to render them almost invisible.

 Luffy rubbed the back of his head, “You always grab your neck when you have nightmares…so maybe…?”

 “I love it,” Law said.

 “I’m glad—but no covering your face! I want to see that!” Luffy said, hopping into Law’s lap.

 “Of course, my king,” Law murmured, kissing his ear. He was knocked back against the mast as Luffy cuddled into him with all the force the rubber man used for every aspect of his life. Law expected a few bruises along his spine, but then that was a hazard off being the adored boyfriend of the future pirate king—high impact hugging.

He loved it.

**Author's Note:**

> Went with change over loss. I'll admit the ending's rushed, my inspiration for this just up and died at the end and I had to kind of make it do things. Tho I do like joking about Law's tiny butt. I mean look at it when they get him form behind in Sabaody, it's so small!


End file.
